Torque Ripple Reduction in Three-Level Inverter-Fed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drives by Duty-Cycle Direct Torque Control Using an Evaluation Table

In this paper, a direct torque control algorithm with novel duty cycle-based modulation is proposed for permanent magnet synchronous motor drives fed by neutral-point clamped three-level inverters. Compared with the standard DTC, the proposed algorithm can suppress steady-state torque ripples as well as ensure neutral-point potential balance and smooth vector switching. A unified torque/flux evaluation table with multiple voltage vectors and precise control levels is established and used in this method. This table can be used to evaluate the effects of duty-cycle vectors on torque and flux directly, and the elements of the table are independent of the motor parameters. Consequently, a high number of appropriate voltage vectors and their corresponding duty cycles can be selected as candidate vectors to reduce torque ripples by looking up the table. Furthermore, small vectors are incorporated into the table to ensure the neutral-point potential balance with the numerous candidate vectors. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm are verified by both simulations and experiments.